Friday Night the Men’s Basketball team welcomed Turtle Mountain Community College to Ellendale and Ray Ulmer Fieldhouse for a rematch in which they played just ten days ago. The Lions won the first meeting at Turtle Mountain 80 to 70. This game would go down to the wire with Turtle Mountain missing a half court shot at the buzzer and the Lions holding on to win 80 to 79.

                The Lions would come out slow again in the first half with TMCC jumping out to an early lead. Turtle Mountain held a ten point lead 24 to 14 over the Lions with 13 minutes left in the first half. The Lions would put together a 16 to four run and take the lead 30 to 28 with eight minutes left in the first half and finish the on a 29 to 13 run putting the Lions lead at halftime 43 to 41.

                The second half would see many ties and lead changes with the Lions taking a seven point lead 57 - 50 with 14 minutes to play in the game after a three pointer by Mikey Rosario (Fort Worth, TX). After a pair of steals by Barry Bighorn (Culbertson, MT) and Pete Enos (Rapid City, SD) the Lions would hold their biggest lead of the game at 65 – 55 with just under 10 minutes left in the contest. Turtle Mountain would put together a 13 to two run getting the lead back 67- 68 with six minutes left. With four minutes to play both teams would exchange leads and ties. Mikey Rosario would score seven straight points for the Lions with just over three minutes to play to give the Lions a 78 to 75 lead. The Lions would added two points on a Joshua Bialik (Delta Junction, AK) put back to give the Lions a 80 – 77 lead with over two minutes left. Turtle Mountains’ Shaun Knife would drive the length of the court and make a lay up to close the gap to one point with 18 seconds to play. The Lions would then get fouled with five seconds left and failed to convert either of the bonus free throws and Turtle Mountain grabbed the rebound and got a half court shot off as time expired but it would not fall giving the Lions the win 80 to 79.

                The Lions were led in scoring by Mikey Rosario with 25 points (11 for 20 from the field), five assists and three steals. The only other Lion in double figures was Pete Enos with 16 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.